1 Peter 5:8,9

This is the third time that Peter has urged his readers to be "alert and of sober mind", the other occasions being 1:13 and 4:7. Peter knew how important this was because of his own past failings. We should think ahead, being aware of what situations we might face and how we should react in them. If we are prepared, then we are more likely to make the right response. Just think how many times you have said or done something you later regret? We would have avoided many of these failures if we had thought ahead.

The devil is looking for opportunities to trip us up, in fact looking for a chance to devour us. Some have made a lot of the fact that it says he prowls "like" a lion, saying that he is actually toothless and cannot really do any damage. I am not convinced by this. The whole tenor of Peter's teaching is that we need to take the devil seriously.

Our response is to resist the devil and stand firm in the faith. We are to take the devil seriously, but we are not to run from him or to fear him. If we stand firm then it is the devil who will do the fleeing (James 4:7). We are not alone in the battle, for all believers face the same battle. One of the devil's tricks is to convince us that we are the only one undergoing this particular trial. It is not true.

1 Peter 5:5-7

In the same way, this phrase is repeated often. No matter whether we are male or female, young or old, leader or not, we are all to have the same attitude, the attitude of Christ. This is the most important thing. If you look in the New Testament it is actually impossible to find a single comprehensive model of church structure. Now I know many dominations or groups may claim to be based on the NT. In many cases they are right in saying that their model is consistent with Scripture, but there is no one single model presented. The reason is that the model is not crucial, it is the attitude we have. If we have the mind of Christ then we will be "successful", if we do not have the attitude of Christ it makes not a blind bit of difference what system we have, we will fail.

We are all to clothe ourselves with humility, because, as Proverbs 3:34 says, God opposes the proud but favours the humble. If we adopt a proud attitude then God is our enemy and we cannot expect to get very far. Just as we make sure we put normal clothes on in the morning, we should take care to clothe ourselves with humility for the day as well.

If we do humble ourselves before God, then He will lift us up at the right time and in the right way. Sometimes we adopt a proud or forceful attitude because of insecurities or fears, instead we should cast our cares upon the Lord, being confident that He will look after us.

1 Peter 5:1-4

Peter now addresses the elders of the church. Peter is speaking specifically to the leaders. Peter writes as one who saw Christ suffer and know he will share in Christ's glory. These two facts should colour our attitude to life. We serve a Lord who suffered for all, so we should not consider anything to menial for ourselves, or be full of self-importance. Conversely, we should also be full of joy and hope, having no resentment or bitterness, because we know we too will share in His glory.

Leaders are to lead as servants. We are to do the tasks we have as willing servants, not doing them because we have to, and definitely not in order to get lots of money. Nor are we to use positions of authority to lord it over others, ie emphasising the fact that we are leaders and they are not. A leader is a servant, and we are above all else to lead as examples, as examples of people who are imitating Christ. Then we can be confident that when Christ appears we will receive a true crown of glory.

1 Peter 4:12-19

Again Peter speaks about going through trials, indeed this is a continual emphasis in the letter. Our natural reaction is to want to avoid trials, and sometimes we see Christ as a means of avoiding trials, but this is not the message that the Bible gives. The message of the Bible, and 1 Peter in particular, about trials has many aspects, but two of the key ones are:

• We are sharing in Christ's suffering
• God uses them to make us more Christlike.

Peter tells them that there is nothing unusual about going through trials, instead they are to rejoice that they are sharing in Christ's sufferings. This implies that the trials were a direct result of their faith in Christ. If we share in His sufferings, we will also share in His glory (Romans 8:17).

Jesus Himself taught that we are blessed if we suffer for His sake (Matthew 5:11).

Everyone suffers, we might as well suffer for something worthwhile! We can suffer for doing things that are plainly wrong, such as murder or theft, or we can suffer for just being a nuisance, a meddler as Peter puts it here. We need to distinguish between suffering which is our fault, and which can be avoided by changing our ways, and suffering for Christ's sake. Needless suffering is nothing to be proud of, but if we do suffer for Christ's sake we should rejoice, rather than being ashamed, for it shows that we are identified with Christ.

Peter then talks about judgement. Now it might seem a little odd to do so here, for he has been talking about suffering as a Christian, and how this is good. The truth is that when we suffer there will usually be a mixture of good and bad things. As well as making us more Christlike, it will also bring to the surface the unChristlike features of us. God uses trials to purify and refine us.

So suffering is not something to be avoided at all costs, instead we are to commit ourselves to God and do good.

1 Peter 4:7-11

This was written almost two thousand years ago, so saying the end of all things is near seems removed from the truth. But viewed in eternity the end is near, and for each one if us the end is at most about 70 years away (and a lot closer in some cases!) as far as we are concerned. Our time in this life is time limited. Our response should be to be alert and sober minded, being careful how we live. Isaiah refers to the attitude of his day as "eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die". This was an attitude of hopelessness, but we have hope, we have a purpose, therefore we live well.

The primary practical outworking of this is to love one another. "Love covers a multitude of sins". This does not mean we can get away with sin, it does mean that love is essential. We can have all the laws and rules we want, but without love things will not work. Conversely, if love is the driving force, then all sorts of imperfections and failings can be overcome.

We are to be hospitable to each other. Peter's words about doing this without grumbling may indicate that his hearers were not particularly hospitable by nature. We need to have a generous attitude. We are to serve each other with our gifts. We are all given gifts and abilities by God. They are not given for self-promotion, but so that we can serve others. This also means that we should serve with confidence. If we have the gift of speaking then we should speak as if we are speaking the very words of God, not so that we can puff ourselves up, but so that we can build others up.

1 Peter 4:1-6

We are to arm ourselves with the same attitude that Christ had. What attitude did He have? Jesus was prepared to obey God whatever the cost, whatever the suffering demanded of Him, even if this suffering was grossly "unfair". We need to arm ourselves with this attitude. Remember again that it is Peter writing here. he knew how easy it was to give in to our weak desires if were not prepared, as he found out when he denied Jesus. Our natural reaction is to consider it unfair or unreasonable to suffer, we naturally want the easy way. But if we are to conquer sin then we need to be prepared to suffer.

The overriding driving force in our life is to be doing the will of God, not living by earthly desires. Peter's teaching here is very similar of Paul's teaching about living by the flesh and the spirit in Romans 8. Peter here is speaking primarily about overtly sinful actions, such as various forms of debauchery. The world considers it strange that we do not want to join in with its ways, and its ideas of "fun". They may even heap abuse on us because we choose to live differently.

The truth is that at the end all of us will have to give an account to God for how we have lived.

Verse 6 is another difficult verse. Some have seen it as referring to a chance to hear the gospel being given to those who have died. There is not a lot to support this view, and it is out of context with the rest of the letter (not to mention the rest of the Bible). Another view is that it is referring to preaching to the spiritually dead, bringing them to life when they believe. While this is true, again it does not fit in with the current context. The best view seems to be to take it as Peter dealing with what has happened to those who have died in the faith. They died physically, as we all will, because of sin, but they will be raised to new life at the last day.

1 Peter 3:19-22

Verse 19,20 contain one of the most enigmatic statements in the Bible. There are several explanations that have been advanced. These include:

• This refers to Christ going to Hades between His death and resurrection to preach to people who died at the flood and give them a second chance. There is no Scriptual support for this view.
• Christ went to hell to proclaim His victory to the imprisoned fallen angels. However, the context seems to be referring to men rather than angels.

There are others. All these ones seem to be fixated on the view that "in that state" refers to Christ's state between death and resurrection. The best view seems to be that "in that state" is referring to the risen Christ. Peter is the using the time of Noah as an example. Noah patiently went about doing what God had commanded him to do, but the rest of humanity refused to listen. The risen Christ is the ultimate proof that Noah was right. This does seem to fit the context much better. Also, we have a bad habit of think "in the spirit" is opposed to our physical existence. This is not so. The complete human being is a physical being whose life is motivated by the Spirit. When we are raised to new life we will have physical bodies.

In Noah's day only a few were saved, so we should not be disheartened if not many believe. For we have been cleanses of our guilt. We have been baptised into Christ's death and resurrection, we share in His victory. And our saviour is seated at the right hand of God,with everything else is submission to Him.

1 Peter 3:16-18

Even when we do act rightly there will still be those who speak against us. Our defence to this is to keep a clear conscience before God, not to retaliate. If we do this there will come a point where they are ashamed of their malicious behaviour.

Verse 17 sums up the whole ethos for doing this: it is better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. You see, if we do respond with evil we will actually end up suffering anyway. We might as well suffer for doing good and so achieve something, than suffer for doing wrong and achieve nothing.

Peter again cites Jesus as the supreme example. He is the example in what He did, in the attitude He had, and in the effect and outcome. Earlier Peter drew attention to the attitude Jesus had, here he focuses on the effect. Although Jesus died on the cross, He was raised to new life.

1 Peter 3:13-15

"Who is going to harm you ..." This is phrased in the sense of implying it is unlikely that we will be harmed if we do good. Now of course there are situations and countries where you may well be harmed for doing good, but the fact remains that actually we are far less likely to be harmed if we do good. There is no need, and no justification, for needlessly antagonising people or governments.

Peter, of course, recognises that sometimes we will suffer. Indeed, peter himself had already being beaten and imprisoned on occasions, as told in Acts. He recalls the beatitudes when he says that if we do suffer for doing good then we are blessed. This thought does not come naturally to us, but it is actually true. It is far better to be in favour with God than in favour with man. Peter quotes from Isaiah 8:12, where God tells Isaiah not to fear what those around him feared, but instead to fear only God.

The key to being able to do this is to set Christ apart as Lord in our hearts. This is a concious decision, and something we need to do daily. The centre of our being need to be focused on Christ.

We are to be ready to explain our faith and the hope that we have, but we are to do this in a respectful manner. We are to fight the battle with spiritual weapons, not human weapons (2 Corinthians 10:4,5).

1 Peter 3:8-12

Peter gives the positive attitudes we should all have all of the time. We are to live in harmony with each other, love one another, and be compassionate and humble towards each other. We all know people where these attitudes are very much lacking, but it is also true that we can find the opposite of these attitudes arising in us. This happens because of the flesh. We need to be on our guard (remember that earlier Peter told us to prepare our minds for action), and when we notice the opposite of these attitudes arising we need to do something about it.

I have heard it said that it is how we react that shows us what we are really like. This may be true, but it is very unhelpful. When we are saved we are born again and new life comes into us, but we also need to crucify the flesh, to take off the old self. When we become aware of the old self reasserting itself we need to choose not to give into it, but instead to choose positive Christian virtues, eg choose to forgive. In this way we put the old self to death. Putting the old self to death is a process. If at times we fail (as we all do), then we need to repent quickly and put things right.

We are not to repay evil with evil, but with blessing. Jesus said we are to love our enemies. Abraham was chosen to be a blessing to all nations, the same applies to us. We were chosen to bless not to curse.

Peter then quotes from Psalm 34:12-16 to back up his teaching. In short, we are to turn away from evil, and turn towards good.

1 Peter 3:7

"In the same way". Peter now turns his attention to wives, and the context does not seem to be too flattering to husbands! He has just been talking about harsh masters and how Jesus responded to unjust treatment, so "in the same way" seems to put this in the context of how wives should respond if they have harsh or unjust husbands. In particular, he is focusing on how unbelieving husbands can be won for Christ, and the emphasis is on action not words.

The underlying message of this section and previous ones is that the beauty of Christ is shown best in our lives when we refuse to give in to our natural instincts when mistreated (ie to retaliate or to take on a grudging attitude), but instead we determine to become even more godly.

Inner beauty is far more important than outward beauty. Today both men and women spend ever increasing amounts of beauty products, and even going to the extent of having surgery. While there is nothing wrong with putting some effort into out personal appearance, and indeed it is sensible to do so, in the end our outward appearance will fade away. Conversely, when we cultivate a gentle spirit within this will have eternal value. Most importantly it is of great worth to God. Our prime concern should be to impress God.

Peter cites Sarah as the prime example. Note that failing to do what is right is equated with giving in to fear. Giving into fear is often a cause of sin.

1 Peter 3:1-6

"In the same way". Peter now turns his attention to wives, and the context does not seem to be too flattering to husbands! He has just been talking about harsh masters and how Jesus responded to unjust treatment, so "in the same way" seems to put this in the context of how wives should respond if they have harsh or unjust husbands. In particular, he is focusing on how unbelieving husbands can be won for Christ, and the emphasis is on action not words.

The underlying message of this section and previous ones is that the beauty of Christ is shown best in our lives when we refuse to give in to our natural instincts when mistreated (ie to retaliate or to take on a grudging attitude), but instead we determine to become even more godly.

Inner beauty is far more important than outward beauty. Today both men and women spend ever increasing amounts of beauty products, and even going to the extent of having surgery. While there is nothing wrong with putting some effort into out personal appearance, and indeed it is sensible to do so, in the end our outward appearance will fade away. Conversely, when we cultivate a gentle spirit within this will have eternal value. Most importantly it is of great worth to God. Our prime concern should be to impress God.

Peter cites Sarah as the prime example. Note that failing to do what is right is equated with giving in to fear. Giving into fear is often a cause of sin.

1 Peter 2:18-25

Peter now addresses slaves, and instructs them to submit to their masters, irrespective of whether or not they are kind and considerate. How much more should we apply this to our own situations, which are almost certainly way better than that of a 1st century slave? Behaving well, even under grossly unfair treatment, is a true sign of belonging to God. We find this sort of teaching hard to take, for our natural reaction is to complain how unjust it is.

Peter cites Jesus as an example and motivation for this teaching. He is the supreme example of suffering unjustly. We too must be prepared to do likewise, and if we do it is commendable before God. Pleasing God is to be out first priority.

The answer to the objection that this teaching is unfair or just plain impracticable is to look at Jesus. He was insulted and suffered unimaginably. Yet He did not retaliate. Remember too that Peter had sought to defend Jesus by cutting off one of the soldier's ears, but was rebuked by Jesus.

Jesus did not retaliate because He entrusted Himself to God, rather than taking the task of judging upon Himself. In so doing Jesus took upon Himself our sins, so that we could die to sin and live for righteousness. By His wounds we have been healed. This is often applied in the context of physical healing, but the primary context hear seems to be healing of sin, and we should take it in that way. By the way, Isaiah 53 does have relevance for physical healing, for Matthew quotes Isaiah 53:4 in Matthew 8:16,17, it just seems that the "by His stripes .." bit is not the relevant bit!

Once we were going astray, but now we have returned to the shepherd of our souls. We need to listen to Him and to follow His guiding and example.

1 Peter 2:14-17

This respect for authority is to transcend to all levels. This immediately raises questions in us about what to do about evil governments. Verse 15 has the answer, God wants us to silence the foolish by doing good. God's response is not to fight evil with evil, but to overcome evil with good.

Verses 16 then takes things further. We are not use our freedom to cover up evil in our own lives. It is so easy when we claim to be acting on someone else's behalf, that we are looking only to our own interests. The devil can appear as an angle of light. The freedom Christ has given us is the freedom to live as God intended us to. Verse 17 sums up what this means. We are to respect everyone, love fellow believers, fear God and honour the earthly leader. The order is interesting, for love for other comes before fearing God. In practice how we react to and treat other people is a very good indicator of whether or not we truly love God. As John says, how can we say we love God who we cannot see if we do not love our brothers who we can see?.

1 Peter 2:11-13

Foreigners and exiles. A foreigner or exile never really feels at home in the land they are in. We are foreigners and exiles in the world. Ie we will not feel at home in this world, there will be features of its ways which are alien and abhorrent to us. In particular it is essential that we abstain from sinful desires, for these will war against our soul. Evil desires are not just something that we feel and that some obscure religious book has forbidden, it is much more serious than that. The desires themselves war against our soul, they seek to destroy our innermost being.

Instead we are to live good lives, we are to be living examples of Christlikeness in the world. In Peter's day the Christians were accused of doing all sorts of things, much the accusations deriving from the Lord's Supper. There can be a place for protext, but our primary response to false accusations is to live even more excellent lives. Then one day they will have to glorify God, they will have to admit that they were wrong.

We are to submit to earthly authorities. When we read this we must remember that Peter (and Paul, who wrote similar things) was not well treated by the authorities, but the NT writers were adamant that earthly authorities had been placed there by God. That is not to say that all that they do is right, nor that we should never challenge it, but God has placed authority there to make the world run better.

1 Peter 2:6-10

Peter now quotes from Isaiah 28:16, Psalm 118:22 and Isaiah 8:14, respectively. The quote from Isaiah 28 comes from a passage where God is saying that the people's attempts to make themselves safe will prove futile, all man's efforts would be unable to resist the coming judgement. Instead God had laid a precious stone in Zion, only He would be a sure hope of salvation.

Psalm 118 follows a similar theme, stressing that only by taking refuge in the Lord can we be safe. Men thought God's way was useless, but God's way had proved to be the centre of it all.

Again, Isaiah 8 is in the same vein, but is directed specifically at Isaiah, warning him not to fear what others feared, but to fear only the Lord.

Peter is showing that the fact that many have rejected Christ means nothing, for God has chosen Him. We have been chosen by God, and chosen to believe in Christ. We are God's special possession. This should not engender pride in us, but it should engender security, and an awareness of our worth. We have been called out of darkness into His light. We are now special because of what He has done, because of the mercy He has poured out on us.

1 Peter 2:4,5

Peter's readers would be familiar with many stone temples of various sorts, but in coming to Christ we come to the living stone. We do not come to a human religious system, but to the living God. We are not coming to aset of ideals or philosophy, but to a person. Christ was rejected by men, but is chosen by God. Ie Christ is God' choice of the way, it really doesn't matter what others think, it is God's opinion that counts.

We are being built into a spiritual temple. Ancient temples were made of stone, many of them were magnificant buildings, and they were the focus of the religion. We are not like that. We ourselves are the stones, being built into a living temple. The focus of the gospel is on people, not buildings.

We are all part of a holy priesthood. Priests were the ones who offered various services to the god they worshipped, including animal sacrifices. We are all priests to the one true God, and offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. Ie living lives in trust and obedience to God is the sacrifice that God requires.

1 Peter 2:1-3

There are two key things that we need to do: we need to rid ourselves of the old way of living; in its place we are to crave the things of God. Malice, hypocrisy, deceit, envy and slander are present in so many aspects of life. They can be found in politics, in the work place, at school, in neighbourhoods. These things have no place in the kingdom of God. Sadly they can sometimes be found in churches, and we should continually examine ourselves to ensure that they are not creeping into our own life, and if they are, then root them out with all haste.

Peter is continuing the theme of new birth. We are born again, and like new born babies we are to crave pure spiritual milk. We are to long for the word of God, to pray to God, to know the Holy Spirit, to fellowship with other Christians, to praise God. All these things help us to grow up in our salvation. The New Testament repeatedly sees salvation as something we already have, something we are receiving and something we will receive. That is why the analogy if new birth is some appropriate. Becoming a Christian marks a dramatic change in direction, the start of a new life. Yet it is only the beginning of the process. Jesus called us to make disciples. Just as it would be tragic for a baby to always be a baby, a Christian who does not grow and mature is equally tragic. There is a continual growth.

Peter provides motivation for this in referring to the fact that we have tasted that the Lord is good. We have experienced something of God. This can include intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual. The Lord made every bit of us and every bit of the universe, and becoming a Christian involves experiencing the Lord in all aspects of life.

1 Peter 1:22-25

We need to come to Christ in the first instance because we are unclear, we are sinners. We need to be cleansed or purified. When we obey the truth, ie when we acknowledge and repent of our sins, seeking forgiveness from God through Christ we are purified. It is now possible for us to do the right thing. One of the first fruits of this should be to love one another deeply and sincerely. We should consider the needs of others as important as our own needs.

We have been born again. In John 3 Jesus talks about being born again of the Spirit, here Peter speaks about being born again through the Word. The Word of God and the Spirit are very closely related. In Ephesians 6 Paul says the word of God is the sword of the Spirit. The most obvious and effective sign of the Spirit having an effect in our lives is that He makes the Word of God alive to us, He makes it effective in our lives.

This is much more than an emotional experience (though our emotions may well be involved), for it is living and enduring. People are like grass, and the supposed glory of men is fleeting, it can turn from apparently being wonderful to being awful or insignificant in an instant. God's work in our lives, through His word, is permanent. The good news is the Word of God and its effect in our lives is eternal.

1 Peter 1:18-21

In the ancient world a slave could be redeemed or set free by someone else paying money (ie silver or gold). We have been set free from an empty way of life, our lives now have a direction and a purpose. But we were not set free by silver or gold, but by a ransom paid for by the precious blood of Jesus. He was the perfect sacrifice, He was without blemish. Ie Jesus was without sin and lived a life of perfect obedience to God. Someone has done something supremely precious for us, we therefore have an obligation to respond to that.

It was always God's plan to send Jesus. Indeed He was chosen before the creation of the world. This knocks on the head the notion that God was taken by surprise by what happened in Eden and had to come up with an emergency plan. This is not the case, Christ was always chosen for this task. Now this of course raises all sorts of questions of its own, but we need to realise that God is never taken unawares. The plan was always known to God, it was revealed to the world when Christ came. Notice that He was revealed for our sake, ie for our benefit.

Through Christ we believe in God. We are not believing in a philosophy or an ideology, but in God Himself. For God raised Christ from the dead and glorified Him.

1 Peter 1:17

We often talk about the intimacy of the fact that God is our Father, and this is true, but the Father is also an authority figure. This is something that is very much lost in our society today, but God is the perfect Father in all respects, and this includes being a figure of authority. One of the things He does is judge our lives and our works, and He does this with complete fairness and impartiality.

Now we need a Father who cares for us and has an intimate concern for our lives, but we also need Him to be an authority figure as well. One of the causes for many of the problems in society is the lack of authority figures who are worthy of respect. We need a Father who corrects us when we are wrong, who urges us to take up challenges that we might be afraid to do. We also need to know that when He gives His approval of our work it is not just because He is being nice to us, but because the work is actually worthy of praise.

So we are to live as foreigners and in reverent fear. Ie we are not to follow the ways of the world, we are citizens of the Kingdom of God, and we are to live as such. We also need to know that our lives and actions are watched over by the Lord.

1 Peter 1:13-16

All that Peter has said so far has practical consequences for the way we live now. Indeed, this is true of all of the New Testament writers. The first thing we are to do is prepare our minds for action and be fully sober. Older versions of the Bible talk about girding up our loins, the reference being to the need to gather up the long robes that some wore so that they could run freely. Peter knew the consequences of not being fully prepared in our minds when he denied Jesus. We need to think ahead making our selves ready to remain true to the Lord.

This is important because it is so easy to be knocked off course by events or immediate concerns. Peter did indeed love Jesus, but the threats and fears of the moment dominated his actions and he denied the Lord. We need to be fully focused on the future that God has for us, then we will be better able to resist these pressures. Note also that it is the grace that is going to be given to us. Often we can despair because of our own weakness and failings, thinking there is no point in going on. But we stand in the grace of God. It is God's undeserved favour that will reward us, so it is always worth pressing on. We should never give up.

We are to live as obedient children, no longer living according to all sorts of fleeting and evil desires. We are children of God, but we are to be obedient children.

God is holy, so we are to be holy. Holy means to be set apart for a purpose. God is different. When Jesus was on earth He was clearly different from other men in the way He lived, thought, and responded. We are to be different just as Jesus was different. For we have been set apart for a purpose, so we need to set ourselves apart for that purpose.

1 Peter 1:9-12

I will begin by saying a little more about verse 9. The goal of our faith is the "salvation of our souls". This means much more than that we will not be condemned to hell. It means that we are being transformed into the likeness of Christ. It means that all the corrupt parts of our nature are being put to death and replaces with the new nature. It means that where we were weak we are being made strong in Christ.

The gospel is not a replacement for the Old Testament, but the fulfilment of it. The OT prophets looked forward to the salvation that is in Christ. Indeed, they searched intently for it, this implies that it was the problem to which they were trying to seek a solution. Moreover, the prophets spoke of the grace that was to come. Isaiah is the supreme example of this, but Hosea and Micah also spring to mind. They wanted to know exactly what God was talking about when He spoke of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that would follow.

The OT prophets were not serving just their own age, but also us. In practical terms this means that we should read intently the Old Testament in the light of Christ, seeing how it further explains all that Christ is about. Note the implication that both the OT prophets and the preachers of the New Testament were inspired by the Holy Spirit.

1 Peter 1:6-9

Peter makes no bones about the fact that sometimes things will be hard, but that does not mean we are destined to be miserable! Instead we greatly rejoice, because we are protected by the Lord. Note that we do suffer grief in all sorts of trials. Living by faith does not mean we find everything easy, nor that our lives will be free from physical or emotional pain. But we rejoice because we know that they are not pointless. Instead they have come so that our faith can be refined.

When we go through difficulties it enables us to sort out what is really important. Moreover, it teaches us to rely on what is truly reliable. It helps us to realise that our faith is the most precious thing we have. Faith is powerful, and it will result in glory and honour when Christ is revealed. This will happen supremely when Christ returns, but we can also receive foretastes of this now. For sometimes we see at least something of the victory in this life.

Peter had seen Jesus, whereas his hearers and us have not. This puts us in no worse a position. Rather we are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. Note that this happens now, and that we are receiving the goal of our faith (ie present continuous). There is a fairy tale gospel that says if we have enough faith everything will be alright, we will enjoy unending prosperity, and suffer nothing. This is unbiblical nonsense. As Paul says, we have to go through many trials in entering the kingdom of heaven, but I will say it again that this does not mean destined to a life of misery. Far from it. We should expect to receive this glorious joy. We should expect to experience receiving the salvation of our souls, ie there should be times when we become aware of the work that God is doing in us, making us more and more like His Son Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:4,5

In the world many people are fearful of losing what they have. In some parts of the world wars and natural catastrophes can take away everything in an instant. Even in the affluent west things can happen and nothing is certain. Moreover, we all have a deep desire for security. The inheritance that God has given us in Christ is completely secure, nothing can take it away, nor will it be destroyed. It is kept in heaven for us. Now when we talk of heaven we immediately think of somewhere far away, but that is not true. When Christ came to earth He preached that the kingdom of heaven was near, and taught us to pray "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven". In God our future is secure.

We are shielded by God's power until the final day. We are not promised an easy ride, but we are promised that we will be kept safe. This means that whatever happens we can be confident that God will protect us and see us through. Sometimes we think that faith means believing that God will not let anything bad happen to us, but it seems more Biblical to say that faith is believing that whatever happens God will see us through. We access this shielding by faith, it is necessary for us to exercise faith.

This is until the "last time". This current age is temporary, anything we are experiencing is only for a time. We need to know two things about life now, the first is that it matters, the second is that the current state of affairs is temporary.

1 Peter 1:3

Peter's letter is overwhelmingly concerned with the practicalities of the Christian life, and the starting point for how to live life as a Christian is praise to God. For He has given us new birth into a living hope by raising Christ from the dead. We should realise how much this personally meant to Peter. In His greatest hour of need, and despite all Peter's declarations of undying commitment to Christ, Peter had let Jesus down by denying Him three times. He had followed Christ for three years, Peter had failed, and with Jesus dead on the cross it all seemed as though it was for nothing. In reality it was all for everything. For God raised Christ from the dead, and Peter found new life. Note that this is a living hope, it is not just about what happens when we die, but also about life here and now. We can make two crucial mistakes about Christian hope. One is to think it is all about what happens when we die, and that is arguably the prevalent view in the West. Tom Wright argues effectively against this in his excellent book Surprised by Hope. The other error is to think it is all about now. This is equally unbiblical (see 1 Corinthians 15:19), and the truth is that unless Christ returns in our lifetime (which He may well do) we will all die. We need to know that death is not the end, but eternal life starts now. We are to start to live a new life from the moment we are born again, and to grow increasingly in that new life every day.

1 Peter 1:1,2

1 Peter was written by the apostle Peter in the early sixties. From earliest times it was acknowledged as being written by Peter, though in more modern times some have cast doubt on this. The main argument for doubting Peter's authorship was the good quality of Greek in the letter, and that Peter was supposedly incapable of writing high quality Greek. This can be countered on two grounds. First this was written towards the end of Peter's life, and he would have learnt a thing or two in that time. Moreover, just because he was a fisherman by no means implies he was not intelligent. Secondly, 1 Peter 5:12 may imply that Silas helped with the writing.

On a more positive note, the letter claimes to be written by Peter, and the when we read it, and 2 Peter, there are many echoes of the Peter we know from the gospels and Acts.

The letter is addressed to "God's elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces" of Asia Minor. These would have included both Jewish Christians and Gentiles. People from some of these areas were in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost, and Paul visited some of them as well.

LIke Paul, Peter sees Christians as chosen according to God's foreknowledge. It is no accident that we have come to believe, but part of God's eternal plan. So when we try to make sense of life and circumstances we need to remember that we are part of God's purpose, we are not subject to the whims of random events. We are God's elect.

We were chosen with a purpose, and through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is constantly working in our lives to make us more holy, more Christlike. The goal is that we become obedient to Christ. And His blood makes us clean and acceptable to God.

Genesis 22:20-25:11

I will round off the final couple of chapters that cover Abraham's life fairly briefly. Rebekah was also born at this time, who would be Isaac's wife. When we follow the Lord and show faith in Him things will start to fall in to place.

Genesis 22:20-22 tells us that Abraham's fruitfulness spread to his wider family. Chapters 23 and 24 deal largely with planning for the future. Sarah died and Abraham needed a burial site. Having no land this was a problem, so he had ot buy some land. In fact Abraham was highly favoured and Ephron the Hittite was willing to give him the land free. However, Abraham insisted on buying it. The point of the incident is that Abraham, and hence Israel, legally owned the land.

Then Abraham sends his servant off to find a wife for Isaac. The key stipulation is that the wife must come from his own people, and not be a Canaanite. Moreover, Isaac must not be taken back to Abraham's homeland. We can draw a parallel here with our relationships with our families. We should maintain links with our families, but it should be our desire to see them come into the kingdom of God, not for us to go back to their way of life.

The servant found Rebekah and brought her back to Isaac, who married her.

Abraham seemed to live a full life to the last!

Genesis 22:6-19

Having left the servants, Abraham took the things necessary for the offering. Abraham had clearly (and wisely!) not told Isaac what was happening, but Isaac realised something was apparently missing, namely the animal to be sacrificed. Abraham told him God would provide and carried on with the preparations. Notice again the faith of Abraham.

Having arrived at the designated place Abraham started to make the final preparations. This included binding his son to the altar. There is no mention of Isaac's reaction to all this. Abraham was about to kill Isaac when the angel of the Lord called out to him to stop.

The Lord knew that Abraham truly feared Him, being willing to trust Him to the absolute limit. Abraham looked up and saw a ram that was to be the sacrifice.

The Lord spoke to Abraham again and confirmed His promises that he would have countless descendants and all nations would be blessed through him. Now Abraham is the archetypal example of the man of faith, and is central to Paul's understanding of faith and salvation. These words of God here seem to make it clear that the end result of a life of faith will be a changed life. In the Bible there is absolutely no room for any theology that teaches that by simply saying the right formula we will be saved. The goal and fruit of Biblical faith and salvation is always a changed person (James 2:23,24).

Genesis 22:3-5

Abraham obeyed quickly, making all the necessary preparations and setting on his way with two servants and Isaac. On the third day he saw the place he had to to go to, and left the servants behind, leaving just Isaac and himself. Interestingly he tells the servants that they would come back. Hebrews 11:18,19 tells us that Abraham reasoned that God would raise Isaac from the dead. So it seems that Abraham's words were not just "white lies" to his servants. Abraham knew God's promise to him, and knew that it was through Isaac. All the waiting, and then the pain of having to send Ishmael away, had firmly implanted in Abraham the truth that Isaac was the means of God's promise. Sometimes God puts us through hard times to make us even more convinced of the reality of His promises. As Paul says, suffering produces perseverance. Now Hebrews tells us that Abraham reckoned that God would raise Isaac from the dead. As we know that is not what actually happened, but God did not take Isaac's life. We need to recognise the difference between believing that God will do something, and thinking we know how He will do it. The first is crucial, the second really doesn't matter most of the time. In fact we can be led astray or become stubborn if we get fixated on God doing something in a particular way. God will work things out in the way He chooses.